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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

Nothing helps smooth over those awkward early teen years quite like getting a cake with a half-naked stud-muffin on it from your parents, eh, Tracy? Just wait 'til your mom asks to go "halfsies" with you on a lap dance.

I am told that these "Love is" characters were really popular back in the day, so I'm going to assume it wasn't the decorator's idea to draw two nekkid kids of indeterminable gender hugging. However, what the heck is going on behind kid #1? Either that's a tail, and it's wagging, or kid #2 is patting kid #1's butt. Considering the "warm embrace" sentiment, I honestly couldn't say which of those options would creep me out less.

UPDATE: That's hair? Really? I mean, I guess I'll have to take the word of my [cough cough] older and wiser readers, but I still don't see it. Maybe if it wasn't flesh-colored...

Reader Comments (150)

I just thought of something, what if cake #1 is a wreck in another way. Maybe Tracy is 41, but "they" put the 1 on first by mistake. "Crap! I don't want to mess up the icing... I know I'll just put the four on anyway. Nobody'll notice right?"

That late 60's line: "Make love not war." So someone came up with those cartoon characters, and I'm right there with Cheri-Beri-- "Love means never having to say you're sorry" was the one punchline I remember from my youth. It stuck with me--it was so wrong-headed, and I always wanted to go argue with the cartoonist about that one. Good to know I'm not the only one.

The baker here needs to add more long hair at the back to get it right, but on the whole, he/she nailed those cartoon images pretty well.

@ chrissy:It's the end of her ponytail. It's hair, poorly rendered though it is. Deal with it. Nothing kinky is implied. I'm sure you'll find a vast number of "Love Is" images on an image search. See for yourself.

@ kansas girl:Yes the idea of the existence of a Precious Moments Museum causes the mind to reel. That does not diminish the fact that the US has an issue with nakedness, no matter how simply or innocuously depicted. My good friend who is an elementary art teacher is not permitted to show works of art to her students which depict figures which might be naked. One such image is Henri Matisse's painting Icarus. That's a little ridiculous. For some reason, we in the US over the course of the past 30-odd years since the seventies, have come to view our naked bodies as dirty. In 2002, curtains were draped over nude and partially-nude sculptures at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building because the people speaking there (John Ashcroft, specifically) felt the works of art were innappropriate. The drapes were, at first, rented at a cost of $2,000 per use; then the government purchased a set for $8,000. Wow, we Americans are really ashamed of our bodies, aren't we?

I remember the Love Is...characters :) My grandparents had a book on them when I was a kid...it was a little comic book type thing. It isn't meant to be perverted. The hair I agree is poorly done, but I remember the girl had a 70's haircut that made me cringe...business in the front and party in the back.

Aww, the "Fabio-wanna-be" cake reminds me of my 5th birthday. Sweet memories, followed by years of therapy. I'm just hoping the cake was really for someone's FORTIETH b-day, and it got morphed in FOURTEENTH! Otherwise, those are some messed up parents (cuz I doubt her 14 year old friends could afford a cake like that). OH NO!!! Tracy is a girl, right? This cake is getting worse and worse by the minute.

These characters were very popular when I was a kid. How funny that you think her hair looks odd, and that people think it's "poorly executed." All I see is hair.

Also very popular during that time were "pony tails." A girl with long hair wore it in a single braid, hanging in the middle of her back. An elastic band was cinched a couple of inches from the end of her hair, so it could hang and swing loose, like a horse's tail.

Awww, the Love Is characters were always very sweet and innocent. I always liked them, and even though these are not executed terribly well, they are immediately recognisable. Some of these are still cut out and on my refrigerator with magnets.

The first cake is hideous. Well, I mean, the cake itself looks nice, it's just that design in the middle. I don't care how old I would be, I would not want such a man on my birthday cake. x_x (Even if I did, it would be just weird to carve "him" up and eat pieces! >_<)

I thought of another possibility for the wagging thing...but I'd rather not get into it. I prefer not to think about the reality of these things (which I do remember from my childhood), as the creative explanations are much funnier than the fact that some adult thought these would be adorable. On cake.

Jen, Jen,You are showing your un-dyed roots! I clearly remember buying a "Love Is..." book at our elementary book fair when I was in 2nd grade, and, unfortunately, loving it. Where were my parents in my hour of need?Laura

Yep, just also wanted to add that the love is... characters are still very popular, at least in Germany and Switzerland where I am from. I never really liked them, but they are adults and appear on many little cakes and cards to be given to your loved ones - a real staple in candy shops.

It looks like its meant to be wings. and since the cake is white they couldnt make the wings white. and since it speaks of love and has all the hearts surrounding, im presuming it is a valentines cake which would make what looks to be makshift "charubs."

Lifted straight from Wiki: "Love Is... began as a series of little love notes that Kim Grove drew for her future husband, Roberto Casali. The strip was first syndicated in 1970 and one of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry" was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs."

I immediately recognised it as hair and I'm 23.. Then again I always thought the Love Is... characters were sweet, just because of their origins.